Integrating Drones and Precision Agriculture with Beef Production

Project:

Integrating small unmanned aerial systems and precision agriculture with beef production systems

Member Institution:Virginia Tech

Location:
Blacksburg, VA, USA

Key Experts:

John McGee

Role: Project Leader

Key Words

Unmanned Aerial Systems
Precision Agriculture

Summary:

The goal of this project is to introduce innovative technology that can be adopted by Extension, local producers, and other stakeholders to support increased efficiencies in ag operations, especially beef cattle production. The small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) regulatory landscape changed dramatically with the FAA’s revisions that took place over the summer, 2016. As a result of these regulatory changes, Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) has been developing in-house expertise to support sUAS applications across program areas to support an array of needs by managers and producers. Precision agriculture is one of these potential application areas.

Based on findings from this project, VCE agents and specialists, as well as other stakeholders, will better understand some of the limitations, challenges, and benefits associated with the use of sUAS to support agricultural management. Using this information, we will be able to refine future programming efforts that can be used to support agricultural producers not only across the state but in other regions of the U.S. and beyond.